Retirement

By the looks of my blog this is my annual post. Perhaps after I am retired I can do a better job. We made the decision (in January) to retire at the end of June after our annual conference. Our actual last Sunday will either be the the 2ND or 3rd Sunday of the month. I am waiting to hear the exact date.

Well, retired, I am kind of growing into the idea. After much prayer, thought, and thinking we decided the time was right for us. We have 36 years serving churches in the West Michigan Conference of the United Methodist Church. I also get credit for 2 years in seminary. In some ways it seems like a long haul and in other a short run. But the time is right and we have sensed God's leading. We have plans but perhaps more about that in another blog.

We are grateful to all the churches we have served over the years. I was greatly honored to be the pastor of each one. We have special appreciation for the UMC of Reed City where we have been the past 3 years. What a blessing for us to finish so near to where my Dad grew up and where there are relatives in the church and community. We are indeed grateful.

In this post I want to affirm the power of prayer in helping us make important decisions in our lives. Long ago I read something that Charles Allen wrote in one of his books. He said (in my words) when we are committed to doing God's will God will in his own way and own time reveal that will to us. As we prayed we sensed God's leading. At the time I thought, how foolish it would be to seek God's direction and then after receiving it to ignore it.

Well, we are at the beginning of a new adventure. Mary and I want to fulfill our remaining commitments but we are also anxious to see where the Lord will lead us.